This introduction follows a different format than others in this collection in that it is an edited transcription of a lengthy facilitated interview jointly with Jim Griesemer and Bill Wimsatt performed on 27 September 2024. It includes discussion of the article that appears below and other topics likely to be of interest to readers, such as Griesemer’s intellectual and career trajectory, and Griesemer and Wimsatt’s long-standing collaboration. It has been edited due to space considerations, with references added where thought to be useful. If this introduction were to have its own title, it would be “Riffing on Thickety Problems in Philosophy of Biology, or Useful Lessons about Serendipity and Interdisciplinarity.”